Israeli authorities said forces also conducted an aerial counterterrorism operation in the area of Al-Faraa refugee camp, just over 15 miles south of Jenin, in which Israeli authorities said four other armed militants were killed.
The Palestinian health ministry said in a post on Telegram on Wednesday at least nine people were killed overnight.
The governor of Jenin, Kamal Abu al-Rub, said on Palestinian radio that Israeli forces had surrounded the area and blocked off exit and entry points, as well as access to hospitals, The Associated Press reported.
Meanwhile, Nihad Al-Shawish, an official from the Nour Shams camp in Tulkarem, said the camp was warned by the Palestinian Authority’s liaison with Israel hours before the raids began that civilians should consider evacuating the area. Evacuations were not mandatory, he said.
‘Full-fledged war’
Foreign Minister Katz made the connection between the raids in the West Bank and the ongoing war in Gaza, where more than 40,000 people have been killed, many of them civilians.
Israel must “address this threat in the same manner as we deal with terrorist infrastructures in Gaza, including the temporary evacuation of Palestinian residents and any other necessary measures,” he said.
This is a “full-fledged war and we must win it,” he added.
Katz also said that the IDF was “operating with intensity” in Jenin and Tulkarem to stamp out “Islamic-Iranian terrorist infrastructures.”
“Iran is working to set up an eastern terrorist front against Israel in the West Bank, following the model of Gaza and Lebanon, through the funding and arming of terrorists and the smuggling of advanced weapons from Jordan,” he said.
Israel frequently blames Iran — which doesn’t officially recognize Israel’s right to exist and has supported militant groups throughout the region, including Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah — for violence in the region.
The raids came amid growing tensions in the region amid Israel’s monthslong offensive in Gaza, with Iran having yet to act after vowing retaliation against Israel for the assassination last month of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Meanwhile, hostilities flared at Israel’s northern border with Lebanon over the weekend as Israeli forces and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah traded fire following the assassination of commander Fuad Shukr, which Hezbollah also vowed retaliation for.